The present invention relates to tables. More particularly, the present invention relates to a table having an interior opening for selectively accommodating a floor lamp or torchier. The floor lamp or torchier can easily be inserted or removed from the interior opening without disassembling the lamp requiring the component pieces of the table to be completely separated, or passing the lamp vertically through the tabletop.
Table constructions of various types are generally well known in the art and typically contain some sort of base supporting a tabletop. It is also quite common to utilize lights on or in close proximity to tables for the purposes of providing task or ambience lighting. The most commonly used type of lighting is a table lamp, the bottom of which rests on the tabletop. Such a configuration, however, provides a risk that the lamp could be easily knocked over and also usually leaves the electrical cord of the lamp exposed across the surface of the tabletop. Floor lamps, such as torchiers, have also been generally known in the art for some years. Such lamps generally comprise a base that rests on the floor and provide indirect lighting with a source of light located within a reflecting bowl. Such lamps are difficult to use in combination with tables since they are not designed to rest on a tabletop and cannot be located within the interior of the tabletop unless a hole is provided in the table itself.
Further complicating the use of a floor lamp or torchier in a table having a hole on the surface thereof, is the fact that most of these lamps are not separable into two parts along the midsection between the base and the light and usually contain a cord that runs continuously along the entire length of the lamp. Therefore, in order to insert such a lamp through a table having an interior opening, the opening must have a diameter that is at least slightly larger than either the lamp portion or the base of the lamp. In order to insert or remove the lamp, the lamp must be passed from below the tabletop to a point above the top, or vice versa. An opening of such a large diameter in the tabletop effectively diminishes usefulness of the table by removing a large portion of the tabletop for other uses.
Although several table constructions are known in the art that have an interior or central opening, they each present some rather significant drawbacks to accommodating a floor lamp or torchier. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,890,409 to Roberts, 2,799,543 to Tomaselli, and 5,086,712 to Clark all teach table constructions having a central aperture. The aperture in each of these tables, however, allows for insertion of an umbrella or the like only by lowering it vertically through the central opening such that the leading end of the umbrella must pass from a point above the tabletop through the opening to a point below the tabletop where it ultimately rests on the surface that the table is on. These constructions do not permit the user to insert an umbrella or the like into the central opening by passing the umbrella from the edge region of the table to the central opening. In addition, the diameter of the central opening must be as wide as the base of the umbrella or other device to allow it to be passed through the opening. None of these constructions can accommodate a floor lamp or torchier having a base and end that is wider than and contiguous with its midsection.
Other table constructions are known that provide a central opening that can be accessed by passing a lamp or the like along a horizontal plane from the edge of the table to the central opening. These constructions, however, such as those illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,803 to O""Brien, et al. and Waibel U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,877, require that an entire section of the table be completely removed and separated from contact with the remaining table section in order to permit insertion of a lamp or the like into the central opening. Such constructions also usually require that some sort of fastening retaining element first be released to allow the section to be removed from the table. The section must then be realigned and refastened to the table as a whole once the insertion is complete. Such an operation is cumbersome, extensive, requires tools and undue time and space in order to accomplish insertion of a lamp into the central opening. This can be particularly problematic where the table is being used in a small room, which may have been the very reason for using a floor lamp extending through the table in the first place.
It is therefore apparent that there exists a need in the art for an improved table construction having an internal opening that would easily and simply permit insertion and removal of a table lamp or torchier without the aforesaid drawbacks of prior known constructions.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art and provide a table assembly and method which can easily and conveniently permit insertion and removal of a floor lamp or torchier into an interior opening without having to pass one of the ends of the lamp through the opening and without necessitating the complete removal or separation of a segment of the table.
The table is composed of a tabletop that has two sections that are hinged to one another at a point near one of their respective ends so as to allow for a pivoting movement of the sections in a horizontal plane to allow a floor lamp or torchier to be passed from a point outside the edge of the tabletop to an opening in the interior of the tabletop that is formed when the two sections are pivoted to bring them in close proximity to one another along an entire edge thereof and close the central opening with the lamp therein. The construction of the present invention allows a floor lamp or torchier to be selectively inserted and removed into an interior opening formed by the two sections of the tabletop by moving it in a horizontal plane without completely removing or separating one of the sections of the tabletop. As such, the present invention permits ease of insertion of the floor lamp or torchier into the interior opening of the table without passing an end of the lamp through the opening. The present invention also permits accurate realignment of the tabletop sections once the lamp is inserted and the sections are pivoted back toward one another since the sections never completely lose contact with one another during the process. The present invention can best be understood through the following description and accompanying drawings, wherein: